Weekly Information about Bright Comets (2008 Apr. 19: South)

Great outburst occured on Oct. 24, and it bacame a naked eye comet of 2 mag. It still keeps so bright as 5.3 mag on Apr. 5 (Carlos Labordena). Now it is extremely faint and difficult to see. It was completely stellar just after the outburst. Then the coma had spread out and now it looks like a huge nebula. The coma diameter has increased up to about 90 arcmin in December and January. But now it is going away from the earth, and the diameter reduced to about 60 arcmin. Now it is getting lower and lower rapidly in the evening sky. The altitude will be lower than 30 degrees in late April.

It is brightening much faster than expected. It is already so bright as 8.5 mag (Apr. 17, Marco Goiato). It will pass 0.85 A.U. from the sun in late June, and it may reach up to 4.5 mag. In the Northern Hemipshere, it keeps observable in good condition for a long time after this, while the comet is brightening gradually. It is observable until around May 25, when the comet will be 6 mag. It will be unobservable for one and a half month around the perihelion passage. But it will appear in the morning sky again at 5.5 mag in early July, then it keeps observable after that while the comet is fading gradually. In the Southern Hemipsphere, it keeps observable all the period until the comet fades out, although it will be low in mid June.

It passed near by Earth in early January, and it became a bright large object at 5.4 mag (Jan. 3, Seiichi Yoshida). It was visible with naked eyes. Now it is fading. But the fading is slower than originally predicted, and it is still bright as 9.8 mag (Apr. 18, Marco Goiato). However, it will fade out rapidly after this, and will be fainter than 13 mag in late May. It has already moved away towards the southern sky, and it is no longer observable in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, it keeps observable until it fades out.

New bright comet discovered by two Chinese amateurs. Now it is very bright as 10.1 mag (Apr. 18, Marco Goiato). Diffuse object with a weak condensation. It keeps 10 mag until May. In the Northern Hemisphere, it keeps observable in good condition in the evening sky until mid May. But then it moves southwards, and it will never be observable again. In the Southern Hemisphere, it appears in late March, then it keeps observable until it fades out.

Now it is bright as 10.9 mag (Apr. 18, Marco Goiato). It will keep 11 mag for a long time until August. In the Southern Hemisphere, it keeps observable in good condition until summer. In the Northern Hemisphere, it had been locating extremely low for a long time, however, it will be getting higher gradually after March. But the altitude will never be higher than 30 degrees in the evening sky, and the comet will be unobservable in July. It will appear in the morning sky again at 13 mag at the end of 2008, then it keeps bright and observable for a while.

Although it had been extremely fainter than expected until March, it brightened very rapidly in April. Now it is very bright and visible visually at 11.3 mag (Apr. 12, Marco Goiato). However, it is difficult to see because extremely diffuse. CCD observers reported it so faint as 15 mag. This comet tends to be brightest after the perihelion passage. In the Northern Hemisphere, it had been low until March, but now it locates high. It will be visible visually at 12-13 mag until early May in the good condition.

It brightened up to 8.3 mag on Feb. 6 (Juan Jose Gonzalez). However, now it is fading and getting diffuse very rapidly. It was still bright as 10.8 mag on Apr. 5 (Marco Goiato), but it will be fainter than 13 mag in late April. In the Northern Hemisphere, it keeps observable in good condition until July when it becomes fainter than 18 mag.

It is already very bright as 11.9 mag (Apr. 17, Marco Goiato). It is expected to be 7 mag in September. But it keeps moving in the southern sky, and it is unobservable for a while in the Northern Hemisphere. It will appear in the evening sky at 7 mag in late September, but it keeps locating in the evening low sky until the end of 2008 when it fades out down to 10 mag. Then it turns to appear in the morning sky, and it keeps observable in the northern sky after that while fading gradually. In the Southern Hemisphere, it keeps observable until late October after this.

It brightened up to 13.5 mag and became visible visually in 2007 autumn (Nov. 13, Juan Jose Gonzalez). It will reach to 10.5 mag and will be observable in good condition in 2008 autumn. It had been unobservable for a while, but now it is appearing in the morning sky. Then it keeps observable, visible visually, brighter than 14 mag for one year until 2009 May.

It will reach to 11 mag in summer. It must have already brightened up to 14 mag, but the comet was not observed recently. The condition in this apparition is bad. In the Southern Hemisphere, it keeps extremely low, or under the horizon, so it will not be observable. In the Northern Hemisphere, it is not observable until August when it appears in the morning sky at 11 mag. After August, it keeps observable and fading in the morning sky.

Now it is 14.2 mag, already visible visually (Mar. 17, Alan Hale). It will be bright at 12 mag for a long time from 2008 spring to 2009 spring. However, it is only observable until August in the Northern Hemisphere because the comet moves southwards. It keeps observable for a long time in the Southern Hemisphere.

It brightened up to 8.5 mag on Jan. 6 (Alexandre Amorim). It kept bright until March, however, now it is getting diffuse and fading rapidly. It has already faded down to 12.0 mag (Mar. 30, Marco Goiato). It keeps observable until May, however, it will be hard to see visually soon.

It was 15 mag on Jan. 14 (Michael Mattiazzo), brightening as expected. It will reach to 13.5 mag in the southern sky in spring and summer. In the Southern Hemisphere, it keeps observable for a long time after this. But in the Northern Hemisphere, it is already unobservable. It will be observable again at the end of 2008, when the comet will already fade down to 15 mag.

After an outburst on Dec. 29, some outbursts occured repeatedly until mid January. It became very bright as 10.4 mag on Jan. 15 (P. Clay Sherrod). Then it is fading gradually. But it was still bright as 12.7 mag on Mar. 5 (Juan Jose Gonzalez). Now it is 13.7 mag (Apr. 4, Carlos Labordena), and extremely diffuse.

Now it is 15.7 mag (Apr. 4, G. W. Christie, T. Natusch), brightening as expected. It is getting higher gradually in the morning sky. It is expected to reach to 6 mag in 2009 February. After this, it keeps observable until October when it becomes 11 mag. It will be brighter than 14 mag and visible visually in June.

It is already bright as 14.7 mag and visible visually (Mar. 5, Seiichi Yoshida). It is expected to reach to 11 mag in 2009 summer. Because it moves in the northern sky, it keeps observable until it becomes brightest in the Northern Hemisphere. But it becomes low from April to June.

It was observed at 16 mag in 2007 spring and summer. In the Southern Hemisphere, it keeps 15-16 mag and observable in good condition until summer. In the Northern Hemisphere, it will never be observable again. No observations have been reported recently, and the current brightness is uncertain.

It brightned up to 13.4 mag on Jan. 4 (Seiichi Yoshida). Now it is fading. It was still visible visually at 14.4 mag on Mar. 5 (Seiichi Yoshida). But it has already faded down to 16.9 mag (Apr. 11, Mitsunori Tsumura).

It was recovered at 18.7 mag on Mar. 3, as bright as expected (R. E. Hill). Then it is brightening rapidly as expected, and already brightened up to 15.5-16.0 mag (Apr. 14, Michael Jager). It will reach to 15 mag in May. In the Southern Hemisphere, it keeps observable in good condition until it fades out. In the Northern Hemisphere, the condition is bad. It will be too low to observe in mid May.

Peculiar asteroid moving on a cometary orbit. It reached up to 15.0 mag on Mar. 11 (Katsumi Yoshimoto). It has passed the perihelion in late January, but still completely asteroidal. It is already going away from the sun and fading. In the Northern Hemisphere, it keeps observable until July when it becomes fainter than 18 mag.

Now it is 16.1 mag (Mar. 9, Ken-ichi Kadota), brightened as expected. Although it had been observable in good condition for a while, it will be getting lower rapidly after this. It becomes unobservable in June.

Now it is 16.8 mag (Feb. 29, Ken-ichi Kadota). It keeps 16 mag for one year from 2008 spring to 2009 spring. In the Northern Hemisphere, it keeps observable in good condition while the comet is brightening until 2008 spring. But the comet moves southwards after that, and it will never observable after 2008 July.

It brightened up to 14.5 mag on Jan. 4 and became visible visually (Seiichi Yoshida). Now it is fading. It has already faded down to 16.2 mag (Mar. 9, Ken-ichi Kadota). It will be too low at 17 mag in June.

It reached to 12.7 mag on Dec. 4 (Juan Jose Gonzalez). Now it is fading. It was still visible visually at 13.5 mag on Mar. 5 (Seiichi Yoshida). But it has already faded down to 16-17 mag until in April. It will be fading and getting lower very rapidly after this.

It will be bright at 9-10 mag for a long time from spring to autumn in 2009. Now it is predicted to be so faint as 19 mag. But actually, it is 16-17 mag recently, much brighter than expected. Maybe it is in a temporary outburst.

No observations have been succeeded since 2007 July. Now it is appearing in the morning sky, and it is predicted to be so bright as 14 mag. But actually, it was not detected, fainter than 16.8 mag on Apr. 12 (Esteban Reina Lorenz). It seems to be much fainter than expected. It will be observable in good condition from spring to summer. However, maybe it has already disappeared.

It was 16.4 mag on Mar. 7 (Ken-ichi Kadota), brightened as expected. Although it had been observable at 16.5 mag in good condition for a while, it will fade out rapidly after this. It will be fainter than 18 mag in May.

It keeps brightening even after the perihelion passage, similar to the behaviour at the discovery. It will be fainter than 18 mag and low in the evening sky in June. But maybe it will be brighter than this ephemeris in April.

Not observed in this apparition yet. It will reach up to 9 mag and keep bright for a long time from summer to autumn. In the Northern Hemisphere, it becomes low in the south at brightest, but it keeps observable until it fades out. It is predicted to be already 18 mag. But it was not detected, fainter than 19.5 mag on Apr. 14 (Vitali Nevski). It will be brightening rapidly after this.

Brightening rapidly. It will reach to 14 mag in autumn. However, it locates extremely low in the Northern Hemisphere. It keeps higher than 30 degree even in the Northern Hemisphere until August, when it brightens up to 15 mag.

It was observed bright at 16.5-17 mag from late 2006 to early 2007. However, it is fading after that, although it is getting closer to the sun. Now it is observable in good condition, but very faint at 19.4 mag (Mar. 10, Mitsunori Tsumura). This comet was observed so faint around the perihelion passage in the previous apparition at the discovery. It faded out before the perihelion passage again in this apparition.